I Love You

Click on the underlined text to see the meaning.


Drawing of red eyes.

“‘Connor,’ she says, ‘here’s the thing…’
And the truth is right there in her voice, in the way it’s such a strain for her to even say his name, the quiver of apology lingering in the air like an echo. She doesn’t have to say anything after that, because he knows, but he lets her say it anyway. Because he sees how hard it is for her, and he wants it to be. He wants it to be the hardest thing she’s ever done in her life.”
-Unwind, Neal Shusterman


I needed to say I love you,
to feel it streak off my lips
like a half wet pill declined.

I wanted just one clean cut,
to leave with my coat trailing
like words of a hospice nurse.

I wanted you to clutch your tongue,
jaw dropped to the sidewalk,
medicine burning your throat.

I longed for your tears to flow,
for your professions to roll,
like potassium in an IV.